In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, the character of Randle P. McMurphy undergoes a gradual journey towards self-destruction. His actions go from the minuscule, such as changing minor ward policies, to the act of trying to strangle Nurse Ratched. All of his actions, minor and major, lead to his self-destruction. He continues this behavior even after he discovers he's only hurting himself with his actions.

McMurphy begins by protesting minor but significant defects of the ward policies. When he first arrives, he runs around in nothing but a towel and provokes shock and anger from the Big Nurse. His actions let the nurses and patients know that he won't simply sit back and take the staff's cruel treatment to get the patients to conform quietly and without protest. He begins to gamble with the patients, first for cigarettes and eventually for IOUs, despite the nurse's rule of no gambling on the ward for money (Kesey 102). He also convinces the spineless Dr. Spivey to allow the patients to open up a separate day room for their card games. He uses the doctor to implement these changes, which aggravates the nurse because it takes away her power. The resentment between McMurphy and Nurse Ratched continues to build.

McMurphy brings about all these changes before he realizes one vital fact: Nurse Ratched is the sole determiner of how long he must stay in the ward. He's watching television while everyone else is completing their chores. The nurse says to him, "You're committed, you realize. You are ... under the jurisdiction of me...the staff...Under jurisdiction and control-" (138). The nurse also says, "Keep in mind that Mr. McMurphy is committed. The length of time he spends in this hospital is entirely up to us" (150).

McMurphy relaxes slightly; however, he eventually continues to harass the nurse, despite his knowledge that she dictates the length of his confinement (Waldmeir 425). He...

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...terms of this conflict, in the zone where black and white clash.” This quote by Louis Aragon explains that truth holds meaning only in contrast to deceit or fraudulence. In the novel OneFlewOver the Cuckoo’sNest by Ken Kesey, Randle McMurphy and Nurse Ratched act as the ‘light’ and ‘darkness’ in the ward, respectively. Although the nurse constantly accuses McMurphy of being a destructive force in the ward, the devastation is actually caused by the patients’ realization that Nurse Ratched is abusing her authority. In all actuality, everything the nurse hates about McMurphy could all describe her as well. In this novel, Kesey uses tone, diction, and irony to convey the idea that Nurse Ratched’s destructive behavior is far worse than that which she describes McMurphy of doing.
From the very beginning, there is a strong difference between Nurse Ratched and Randle McMurphy and the feelings they provoke in the hospital. As she is walking into the ward, Nurse Ratched “slides through the door with a gust of cold and locks the door behind her…” (Kesey, 4) Her entrance triggers a fear from both Bromden and the orderlies as signaled by the imagery of the line: “gust of cold”. By locking the door behind her, she seems to create a sense of entrapment on the ward, as there is no way to escape her “hideous real self” (Kesey, 5). Both of these descriptions enhance the sense of unease and terror...

...In the novel OneFlewOver the Cuckoo'sNest, Ken Kesey criticizes the expectations to conform to society during the time of the Cold War through the rebellion of many of his characters. In the early 1950's, America entered into a Cold War with the Soviet Union. The situation in the United States was very hostile and many citizens did not approve of military and political decisions made by our nation leaders.One of these citizens was Jack Kerouac. Kerouac became the leader of the Beat Movement. Kerouac led many young Americans to rebel against
conformity in the 1950's (Halberstam). Randal P. McMurphy is the main character in Kesey's novel and his actions parallel those of Kerouac's. Both men lead rebellions against conformity. McMurphy enters a mental institution and is instantly intrigued by the patients' willingness to adhere to all the harsh rules set by Nurse Ratched. Through both men's stories come ups and downs and inevitably, victory and defeat.
Throughout the 1950's, people who acted or appeared to be outside the mainstream were viewed with great suspicion. The United States was engaged in a Cold War with the Soviet Union. This meant that while no open warfare was declared, "relations were tense and hostile" (Telgen 227). The men and women viewed with suspicion were often accused of being communists. Senator Joseph McCarthy led the nation in uncovering these...

...accept them, and don’t try to change them. When one is free to be him or herself they will be happy. Society has the power to control this freedom and make one feel trapped. Individuals can be manipulated to believe in irrational ideas or morals. In OneFlewover the Cuckoo’sNest by Ken Kesey, Nurse Ratched, the ward and society outside the ward influence and try to control the patients. The power of the patients’ minds determines if they maintain their mental freedom or allow society to control them.
The window that Nurse Ratched sits behind shows the omniscient power she has over the patients. She can watch everything the patients are doing in the day room. It’s like a fish tank, the patients have no privacy from the Nurse’s gazing eyes. All of the patients feel the glare of the nurse from the window, they know they are always being watched which makes them feel inferior and weak. Although the window is transparent, it represents a barrier between the patients and the power the nurse has. McMurphy challenges the nurse's superior power and literally shatters the window to pieces. Bromden describes this act of rebellion. “The glass came apart like water splashing, and the nurse threw her hands to her ears. He got one of the cartons of cigarettes with his name on it and took out a pack, then put it back and turned to where the Big Nurse was...

...Jesse J. Johnson
Professor Casselton
History of Film
27 Nov 2007
OneFlewOver the Cuckoo’sNest (1975)
Many important films of the twentieth century have been influenced by, or represented, the time in which they were released. Or perhaps they reflected upon a period of time in the past. Both statements can be attributed to the classic 1975 film, OneFlewOver theCuckoo’sNest. It is based on the Ken Kesey novel of the same name, which was originally released in 1962. It was very well received in that time, but the Broadway adaptation that came in 1963 only lasted eleven weeks. The film, however, was a success, considering it took thirteen years to bring it to the big screen.
The original novel, being released in the early 1960s, was really a great metaphor for that decade. Actually, it could be said that the story was a few years ahead of its time. The main underlying element of the plot, which will be explored later, is basically rebellion against authority. The decade known as “the sixties”, is synonymous with social and political change. Much of this is due to the American civil rights movement, along with the rise of feminism and gay rights. A whole counterculture arose, with much more radical and liberal beliefs and ideals. Many label this group as the “hippie movement”, which is also widely associated with drug...

...Literature and Film
October 14, 2013
OneFlewOver the Cuckoo'sNest
In the novel OneFlewOver the Cuckoo’sNest by Ken Kesey, nurse Ratched takes away the patients freedom physically, mentally and emotionally. Nurse Ratched was known as the “big nurse” and was a former Army nurse who wasn’t treated great. It became her life to get revenge because of how she was treated and is referred to as a rat and readers are reminded that the rats in the Middle Ages carried the Black Plague. This description represents her well as she was a demonic and crazy person with all of the patients at the mental institution.
Nurse Ratched first takes away the patients freedom when they sign in not knowing they couldn’t leave. After the World Wars, men came back and had a lot of problems with adjusting. They couldn’t adjust with their families emotionally, mentally or physically. So they ended up going and signing their selves into mental institutions. The patients didn’t know that once they signed in that they couldn’t leave. This is where nurse Ratched immediately takes their freedom away.
A patient by the name of Chief Bromden is a schizophrenic who is always paranoid of the Combine. He is one of the patients that are heavily medicated. Everyone believes he is...

...Chief Bromden the narrator
In the novel, OneFlewover the Cuckoo'sNest, the author, Ken Kesey, chose a patient suffering from schizophrenia to narrate the story that is based on Kesey's own experiences. The first-person narrative of a patient, Chief Bromden, makes the asylum setting ordinary, and encourages the reader to invest in the personalities of its inhabitants instead of perceiving the characters as mere poke and shallow. Kasey’s inclusion of Bromden's delusions within the narrative itself, which are at first a disruption to the reader used to linear narratives of the real, become merely another narrative model for the reader as the novel progresses. Demonstration thought allows the reader to discover that while Bromden's disability makes him different, it is not debilitating for him as a narrator, nor, more importantly, as a man. Such insights into Bromden and the others initiate in the reader a reassessment of potentially unexamined perceptions of mental institutions, their inhabitants, and lead the reader to review the origins of concepts such as blind and speechless.
The novel is seen through the eye of Chief Bromden and how he interprets the world he lives in, which he calls "the Combine." Bromden has a very observant eye and gives detailed descriptions. His peer’s false assumption of Bromden's hearing gives Chief the ability to spy, revealing foreshadowing details. Although these...

...OneFlewOver the Cuckoo’sNest
Part I
The narrator of this novel is “Chief Bromden”, who also happens to be one of the main characters. He has been admitted into the Oregon psychiatric hospital for about 10 years, for recurring hallucinations and paranoia (known as schizophrenia). In this novel, he is known as “deaf and mute”. Because of this, majority of the people in the hospital ignore him. Nurse Ratched is in charge of the mental patients, and she is harsh to all of them.
Randle McMurphy arrives in the ward as a transfer, and most people believe something is seriously off about him. First of all, he fakes his insanity to get out of prison. He tells the other men how he enjoys gambling and women. During their time in the ward, the men never defied Nurse Ratched, except when McMurphy makes a bet that he could make her lose her temper in a week. The next few days prove to be entertaining for the inmates (as they followed his footsteps and became rebellious) – however the nurse is often upset with their actions. Nurse Ratched finally loses control when the inmates sit in front of the TV instead of doing cleaning chores. McMurphy finally wins his bet, and is overjoyed.
Unfortunately, he realizes that patients cannot leave the ward until the staff decides that they are cured. He then tries to behave politely to Nurse Ratched in hopes of her releasing him from the ward. ****McMurphy...

...often described as a roller coaster; a journey filled with a mixture of ups and downs. It is often said that the bad times occur in order to give us the ability to recognize the good. It seems than that suffering is in a sense a part of life. To an extent all people suffer in some way, whether it be emotionally, physically, or mentally. “Suffering” encompasses far beyond what is immediately thought of when using the word. Throughout life, people face various hurdles. This leads to suffering until people find the courage to try to overcome it. With perseverance no hurdle is too large to overcome. As stated by Helen Keller, “Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.” She personally overcame many obstacles that she faced with from the day she was born. She suffered through her own battles, but was able to eventually overcome her struggles. Helen Keller’s statement can be seen to be valid not only when looking at her own life but through the novel OneFlewOver the Cuckoo’sNest. The story of the Oregon psychiatric hospital and of a particular patient named McMurphy is narrated by chief Bromden. A six foot and 7 inch tall half-indian who suffers from hallucinations and delusions. Through the telling of the story of the ward he tells us the story of himself as well and the progression of overcoming his hurdle.
Throughout the novel, Chief broom, as known...

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